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A direct bus from Boa Vista, Brazil took me up onto the Gran Sabana a huge high level plateau of rolling meadows, forested waterways, clusters of palm trees and of course the famous table top mountains.
The area is filled with local indian villages of wooden and straw huts and it is from one of these I started the Roraima trek, meandering over the grassy rolling hills to camp at the foot of Roraima and Conanan, their daunting vertical walls oozing with waterfalls.
It was the wet season and my boots were permanently soaked, having to cope with high rainfall and wading through seven waist high rivers. Camping at the top was a unique and memorable experience, eroded over millions of years the 248km square black rock surface was filled with pools of water, moss and insect eating plants with dramatic views through the cloud which rolled over during the day. Our guides prepared excellent food include fried bread in the morning and pasta for the evening spiced up with kariachi and termite sauce.
Heading out of the sabana, I stopped at Araymatepuy, near San Isidro where I met an indian from English speaking Guayana (apparently many moved here during their recession). I hired him as a guide and we walked the short distance to the Guayana border in deep hilly jungle, meeting local indians surviving on the rich selection of fruit and vegetables that are grown here. Indians have full rights to this jungle so they can choose to live where they like clearing an area for farming. Due to the discovery of gold, there are indians now digging deep holes in the jungle looking for the stuff. We slept in hammocks listening to the night alien chorus of Howler monkeys and at dawn an array of birds filled the sky including toucans and macaws.
Next stop, Cuidad Bolivar on the Rio Orinoco, but despite all best intentions I decided not to do the standard two and half day $280 package tour to Salto Angel, partly because Roraima was so rewarding and partly due to the in your face commercialism of the trip - it was peak season. Be careful here, I heard complaints of trips with big groups (ninety) and not enough food, also not getting what was promised.
From Bolivar I headed via Caracas, which is great if you like 1970s architecture, to Merida beautifully set in the western mountains and a great place to arrange excursions. I booked a 4 day trip on a farm in the Los Llanos region.
In Los Llanos the wide open plains between Colombia and the sabana provide great sunsets, impressive storms, ferocious biting insects and the best place for wildlife I have seen, hundreds of birds, caiman, turtles, ant eaters, river dolphins, monkeys, cats (panther, puma, jaguar, ocelot - if you are lucky), capybara (largest rodent in the world) and my favourite - snakes. In Los Llanos they specialise in catching anacondas which weigh up to 150kg, however it is not an easy job in the wet season as they spend most of their time under water.
From Merida I headed north around the largest lake in South America, Lago de Maracaibo. The lake is the focus of Venezuela's huge oil industry. As I travelled over the huge bridge across the lake into the town of Maracaibo, oil refineries dotted the horizon. I spent a night here before taking a direct bus to Santa Marta in Colombia.
I deliberately avoided the populated Venezuelan coast following unfavourable reports from other travellers and instead really enjoyed in-land Venezuela, I left wishing I had made more time to explore around Cuidad Guayana and Puerto Ayacucho.
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